A Woman's Path to Becoming an Ethical Leader

A WOMAN’S PATH TO BECOMING AN ETHICAL LEADER

A woman in Quality who wants to be a successful, respected leader must know this: It may be an uphill battle that only the strongest and fittest will survive. Your personal ethics profile will be vitally important in this battle.

Studies have shown that women historically experience discrimination in the workplace, earn less money for equal work, are offered less at hiring than a man for the same job, and find it harder to reach leadership positions. As more women have climbed the corporate ladder in recent years, studies have looked for gender-based differences in leadership styles.

To put things in perspective, I like to remember what the famous Ginger Rogers said about her dance partnership with Fred Astaire:

“I did everything he did but backward and in heels.”

And I might add, she made it look completely effortless. Ginger felt it in the 1930s. Fred was the massive dance star, and Ginger was a “partner.” Yet, she danced every bit as well as he did. And made him look good. Watch the films. They are equals.

As a woman trying to be recognized as a leader in a male-dominated industry such as Quality, your journey will be twice as hard. You will have to work twice as hard just to be noticed, let alone taken seriously.

Even trying to be looked upon or considered as a leader worthy of promotion in your organization can be more challenging simply because you are a woman.

And as a woman, you must be perceived as friendly, helpful, polite, and understanding. You must be challenging, but not too challenging, demanding, but not too demanding, nurturing, but not too nurturing, knowledgeable, but not too knowledgeable.

It’s a balancing act and political nightmare that adds additional stress to your everyday workload. And whatever you do, don’t overstep your boundaries, the chain of command, roll your eyes, or look at anyone cross-eyed! You will be squashed.

A solid ethical backbone is necessary as part of your toolkit. You will need it if you are going to survive and move ahead.

In your mind, you may think you already are a leader, but you will be sadly disappointed to find out that many layers of ancient corporate thinking prevent this from happening.

Here’s an example of what I mean. Let’s say you are a top-notch project manager, a PMP with years of experience. You’re at the top of your game but have no direct reports. Because you have no direct reports, many companies do not classify you as a leader. Why? Because technically, you’re not leading anyone. You are classified as a “contributor” or “individual contributor.” No matter how they explain it, you have just been awarded an automatic downgrade.

Unfortunately, what goes unrecognized about this classification is that this thinking is a form of bias. And it’s not even “unconscious bias.” It's a conscious part of the plan in the organization. You are being marginalized because no one reports to you. Yet what you do daily has a tremendous effect on many people in your organization and the business.

Additionally, the classification of having no direct reports can affect your opportunities to take part in training that the organization offers for leaders and potential leaders. This can impact your possibility of being considered for promotions.

Even though you are solely responsible for leading a hugely important project that impacts the organization on many levels, planning and putting the whole thing together, moving the project along, and managing many people in various departments to complete their tasks towards the final goal, you are not considered a leader. You will be passed over.

And yet, at the same time, you will be under the microscope. You will be held to an even higher ethical standard, which seems unfair because you have probably observed less than honorable behavior from both male and female counterparts during your career. It can be extremely frustrating and disheartening. That’s why your ethics matter.

This sad and ongoing condition needs to be addressed and changed. It is up to women to speak up and be heard. This is not male bashing. This is not radical. This is a reasonable request for equality in the workplace, to recognize leadership in all its forms, offer advancement opportunities, and give credit where credit is due.

You must develop impeccable ethical behavior to gain respect and be taken seriously. This is important for you personally and for you in the workplace. Make yourself proud first by building and upholding a solid ethical profile. But be warned, this is also a double-edged sword because you will be feared and often criticized when you do if there are unethical players in the midst.

If you are seen to be on the move and improving yourself, counterparts may try to derail you, discredit you, steal your ideas, steal your thunder, bombard you with busy work, and even attack your integrity. This makes for a miserable and toxic work environment. This is real.

My integrity was once attacked by a senior leader who gossiped a ridiculous story about me. It was said that I ran an escort service for gentlemen in the evenings when I wasn’t implementing quality management systems. I can only imagine the conversations. Really?

These actions are designed to stop your forward motion, keep you down, and make you look inadequate or incompetent in the eyes of your boss and other senior leaders. At this point, consider yourself a full-fledged threat to someone if this is happening to you. These actions originate from a place of fear.

But why does this happen? It has been found that women with solid ethical makeup will tend not to look away or remain silent when they see or become aware of unethical activities taking place. Hence the fear when a woman of solid ethics is identified in the bunch.

This is not whining or sour grapes here. This is an unfortunate reality that goes on every day. I am sure many of you reading this can relate through your own experience or that of a female friend.

Women have a different approach to work. Because they are naturally nurturers, they tend to have a softer approach to their tasks. This does not mean weak! Just a different approach in how they deal with people, interact, plan, train, and execute. This feminine approach should be applauded and appreciated for the value it adds to the organization. Not sabotaged as it often is.

So, let’s discuss a little about “feminine leadership” and “feminist leadership” as they pertain to ethics. Once again, this is not intended to be radical, but the differences need to be understood so we can move forward.

There is a difference between feminine ethics and feminist ethics. Feminine refers to the search for a women’s unique voice and advocates for an ethic of care or caring. Women are natural caregivers, which translates into their work approach.

A Feminist Leadership style can be broadly defined as a style of leadership that embraces characteristics and words associated with femininity, such as collaboration, relationships, consensus-building, influence, networking, openness, tone, and intuitiveness.

It’s also important to understand that courage, power, and strength are essential qualities in this Feminist Leadership mix. And women do have courage. Just think of a mama bear who is protecting her cubs. Nothing could be fiercer.

It’s just that some women have difficulty mustering up their courage. They may not be used to having to be brave. But in the world of business and quality, you may need to be bold on occasion. Some women may say you need to be brave every day!

Feminist Leadership ethics can be described as leadership that liberates the feminine from the typical masculine order. That liberation allows for changing women’s working lives through ethical openness and transformation. The separation must occur if we are to evolve.

Feminine/Feminist Ethics aims to understand, analyze, and correct how the genders operate within our moral beliefs and practices and to understand our approaches to ethical theory and how those theories are applied to the workplace. The result is asking for equal rights.

The Feminine and Feminist approaches to ethics seek to validate women’s moral experiences and qualities, understand women’s oppression, and eliminate gender inequality in the workplace and society.

?IN CONCLUSION:

To begin working on your personal ethics leadership profile, start by being authentic. Assess your strengths and weaknesses. Be honest. Determine what matters to you as an individual and align that with your priorities at work. By defining your values, you will come from a space of authenticity, and you will be able to encourage your coworkers and team to do the same.

This is the first step in sharing the vision, aligning with the corporate image, and moving towards a culture of quality. You will gain the respect of your coworkers because they will see that you are a reliable source in the organization when ethical challenges or potential risks present themselves.

NEXT ARTICLE COMING SOON:

Tips for Building Your Personal Ethics Leadership Profile